Pen clips and Rings

It's been an incredibly busy couple of weeks for me. I've been working with my Dad on a couple of projects, and they're finally starting to show progress.

Firstly, the pen clip he wanted me to make.

This is fresh out of the casting machine. My mold is injected with molten wax, which is sealed in a plaster 'pillar'. This pillar is put in a kiln overnight to melt out the wax, leaving a hole for the silver to be forced into. Once the silver has been forced into the empty space, the plaster pillar is removed from the casting machine and plunged into cold water, breaking it apart to release the completed silver piece.

Because you lose the wax model during this process, it's referred to as the 'lost wax' casting technique.

I think it looks cute, no?

It looks even cuter when it's almost finished:

This has been taken to a very fine emery finish. Then we polish it:

And blind ourselves on the resulting glare. This clip will be going on a test run with my Dad, and then we'll see about making more.

I also made a couple of rings this week:

This is a Sanskrit ring that my sister was having difficulty wearing because it was copper, and turned her skin green. Now it's gorgeous in sterling silver, and I'm extremely proud of the finish that I got on it. So professional! The ring is available on my Etsy

I also finished off this ring, remember it from my last post?

It's all polished up and lovely now. This picture shows you how I started with the piece, and how it finished. The two ridged ring is completed, and is available for purchase.

So that's my crazy busy week. I still have so much to get done, and will possibly have more work from Dad on Monday. Better get my sleep in while I can!

Many-Hues Studios

I've been lucky enough to spend my weekend up at Many-Hues Studio. I was originally just plugging away on these little beauties:

These are done in sterling silver, with Preciosa Crystal drops. I decided that I really liked them... so...

I went only slightly crazy. They're going to be available on my etsy shop very soon, as soon as I've got it set up I'll post the link. They're only going to be listed for $15.

Once I got all of my earrings done, I needed something else to do. My dad set up one of his new lathes for me to play with

My only regret is that I don't have any more wax. If I go any further I risk hitting the chuck, and as much fun as THAT would be...

Dad let me play with one of his new tools to. So I made this:

We had a lot of fun playing around, and I can't wait to get these casted. Altogether, an excellent weekend with a lot of hard work done.